Russian President, Vladimir Putin has disclosed that decision-making centres in Kyiv could become a target for the Oreshnik missile.
Speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit in Astana, Putin pointed out that these targets may include military facilities and defense industry enterprises.
He noted that Ukraine has launched multiple attacks against Moscow and St Petersburg. Ukraine carried out its biggest drone strike on Moscow earlier this month.
Also, the Russian President boasted that his country produces ten times more missiles than all of the NATO countries combined.
He spoke about the capabilities of the Oreshnik missile.
He said that Russia had been forced to deploy the new missile “in response to the enemy’s actions” – a reference to the use of US and UK manufactured missiles inside Russian territory.
The Russian leader asserted that the West’s inflammatory actions could trigger serious consequences if the Ukraine conflict escalates further.
He stressed that there were “no analogues to the Russian Oreshnik in the world.” He said that western equivalents would not appear any time soon.
Putin asserted that in the event of a massive use of the Oreshnik, the force of the strike will be comparable to a nuclear weapon.
He also said that serial production of the Oreshnik missile system has already been launched.
“But at the end of the day, it will be up to us to choose the means of destruction considering the nature of the targets that were selected to be wiped out and the threats posed to the Russian Federation.”
Vladimir Putin
Putin Vows Response To All Strikes On Russian Soil
Moreover, the Russian President stressed that Moscow would respond to any and all strikes on Russian soil with the use of Western-made long-range missiles, up to and including “the possible continuation of Oreshnik tests in combat conditions, as was done on November 21.”
Putin said on November 2, 2024, that the United States and its NATO allies had announced their decision to grant Kiev permission to use long-range high-precision weapons, following which US-and UK-made missiles attacked Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk regions.
In response to these attacks, Russia test-launched the latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missiles with conventional warheads against Ukraine’s major Yuzhmash defense enterprise in Dnipro.
Putin stated at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit that strikes on Russian territory, including those using Western weapons, will not go unanswered.
“The strikes from our side were in response to the ongoing attacks on Russian territory with US ATACMS missiles. As I have repeatedly said, we will always respond.”
Vladimir Putin
Additionally, Putin said that overnight 17 targets within Ukraine were struck.
“We carried out a comprehensive strike using 90 missiles of similar classes and 100 drones. We hit 17 targets: military facilities, defence industry facilities and their support systems.”
Vladimir Putin
Putin urged “Russia’s enemies” to keep in mind that it has hypersonic missiles and other weapons which are unrivaled by anything in the world today, such as the Kalibr cruise missile and Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic missile systems. “Their production is being ramped up full tilt,” he noted.
“It was precisely these weapon systems that we have used in the past two days in response to the ongoing strikes by ATACMS missiles deep into Russia. A total of 100 systems, 100 missiles of various types, which I just mentioned, and 466 drones were used.”
Vladimir Putin
Ukrainian authorities said the attacks had been aimed at energy infrastructure, and that earlier on Thursday at least one million people had been left without power after the attack caused emergency blackouts.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia had used cluster munitions, which he described as “a very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics.”
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